ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF COMMUNAUTE ECONOMIQUE DES WEST AFRICAN STATES ETATS DE L’AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST TWENTY-EIGHTH SUMMIT OF THE ECOWAS HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT . Accra 19th January 2005 FINAL COMMUNIQUE Accra, January 2005 INTRODUCTION The twenty-eighth session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was held in Accra, on 19 January 2005, under the Chairmanship of His Excellency, John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana, and current Chairman of ECOWAS. The following Heads of State and Government or their duly accredited representatives were present at the summit: - His Excellency Mathieu Kérékou President of the Republic of Benin; - His Excellency Blaise Compaore President of Faso, Head of Government - His Excellency Laurent Gbagbo President of the Republic of Côte d’ Ivoire - His Excellency Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh President of the Republic of The Gambia - His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor President of the Republic of Ghana -- His Excellency Henrique Perreira Rosa President of the Republic of Guinée –Bissau - His Excellency Gyude Bryant President of the National Transitional Government of the Republic of Liberia - His Excellency Amadou Toumani Touré President of the Republic of Mali - His Excellency Mamadou Tandja President of the Republic of Niger - His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria - His Excellency Maitre Abdoulaye Wade President of the Republic of Senegal - His Excellency Solomon E. Berewa Vice-President of the Republic of Sierra Leone - His Excellency José Maria Pereira Neves Prime Minister of the Republic of Cape Verde - His Excellency Cellou Dalein Diallo Prime Minister, Representative of the President of the Republic of Guinea - His Excellency Koffi Samah Prime Minister of Togo, representing the President of the Togolese Republic. Twenty-eighth Summit of Heads of State and Government Final Communique 1 The following dignitaries also attended the twenty-eighth session of the Authority as observers: - His Excellency, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation; - Mr Paulo Gomez, Executive Director, World Bank A list of participants is attached as an annex. II. Opening Ceremony The opening ceremony was marked by the welcome address of Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, ECOWAS Executive Secretary and the opening address of His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana and current Chairman of ECOWAS, as well as the statements by His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of the African Union, Madam Theresa Sherman, Regional President of the Mano River Basin Women Peace Network; and Madam Salimata Pouquet, President of the Women Peace Network (Côte d’Ivoire). The Authority decided to use these addresses as working documents. The Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to the consolidation of regional peace and security and to the regional integration process, as a means of freeing the peoples of the West African region from poverty and marginalisation. Messages of solidarity and support were delivered to the twenty-eighth session of the Authority by His Excellency Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, representing Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation. Victims of the Tsunami Disaster Remembered At the invitation of the ECOWAS Chairman, the participants of the summit observed a minute silence in memory of all those who perished in the tsunami disaster which occurred in many countries around the Indian Ocean in December 2004. The Summit called for continued global support to the countries affected in their effort at managing the enormous disaster. ECOWAS Programmes The Authority adopted the reports of the Executive Secretary, the two sessions of the Council of Ministers, and the Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The reports focused on the following: • Establishment of the ECOWAS Common Market; • Creation of the second monetary zone (WAMZ) and the ECOWAS single currency; Twenty-eighth Summit of Heads of State and Government Final Communique 2 • Negotiation of regional economic partnership agreement (EPA) between West Africa and the European Union, and WTO multilateral trade negotiations; • Production sector and infrastructure programmes; • Human development programmes; • Administrative and financial matters; • Institutional matters; • Regional peace and security. The Authority placed particular emphasis on economic and institutional matters, peace and security. Expansion of the powers of the Court of Justice Heads of State and Government noted with satisfaction the increasing interest of the West African business community and civil society in the ECOWAS integration process. It was noted that the Protocol on the ECOWAS Court of Justice did not provide the Community Superior Court with adequate powers to contribute sufficiently to the acceleration of the regional integration process. The Authority consequently amended the said protocol. The amended protocol enables the Court to adjudicate in disputes arising from the interpretation and application of supplementary acts annexed to the Treaty, decisions, regulations and directives of the relevant Community institutions. The amendment permits individuals and corporate bodies to seek redress in the Court. The amendment also establishes a procedure for the execution of decisions of the Court and for ensuring compliance therewith. NEPAD Implementation The Heads of State and Government reiterated their commitment to the objectives, orientations and priorities of NEPAD, as the appropriate instrument for the integration and development of the economies of the African continent. The Authority recognised the close similarity between NEPAD objectives and the ECOWAS integration programmes and decided that, at the national level, each Member State should ensure that the same Ministry is assigned the responsibility for both ECOWAS and NEPAD matters. The Authority therefore urged the Executive Secretariat and Member States to ensure the establishment and effective functioning of these national focal points in all Member States. Twenty-eighth Summit of Heads of State and Government Final Communique 3 The Authority took stock of progress accomplished in the implementation of NEPAD since its extraordinary session at Accra in March 2004. The Heads of State and Government expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the Accra short-term action plan covering regional infrastructure projects, trade development, regional peace and security, and institutional capacity building. The Authority commended the establishment of the multi-agency task force, which was facilitating the preparation and execution of regional infrastructural projects. The Executive Secretariat was directed to pursue with renewed vigour the coordination of external resource mobilisation and utilisation. The Authority took note of the creation and functioning of the African Partnership Forum, which was facilitating the participation of the G8 and other OECD countries in NEPAD implementation. The Authority appealed to the international community, and particularly the ECOWAS traditional development partners to make good on the pledges they have made at the various international fora. The Authority urged the Executive Secretariat to expedite action on the establishment at the regional level, of a regulatory framework for the infrastructure sector, with a view to facilitating the funding and execution of regional projects. The Authority also urged the Executive Secretariat and Member States to explore all possible avenues of obtaining local financing for NEPAD regional projects at the national and regional levels. The Authority expressed its gratitude to NEPAD donor countries for their generous offer of resources for the financing of regional projects and appealed to the development partners to take all necessary measures to reconcile their intervention policies with the financing and development needs of our economies. Regional Approach to the Fight against Poverty The Authority underscored the need for a regional approach to the fight against poverty, in order to create synergy and enhance national programmes within the framework of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). The Heads of State and Government commended the efforts of the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat, the UEMOA Commission and the World Bank towards the formulation of a regional poverty reduction strategy paper. They requested that the work should be accelerated in order to adopt a regional framework for the fight against poverty. All the Member States were urged to modify their national strategies to accommodate the regional dimensions of poverty. Twenty-eighth Summit of Heads of State and Government Final Communique 4 Negotiations of Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union The Authority recalled the launching on 6 October 2003 of the negotiation of a regional economic partnership agreement between West Africa and the European Union within the framework of the Cotonou agreement. The Authority reiterated the West African position that the regional EPA should, first and foremost, be an instrument for development in the fight against poverty. The Authority therefore directed the West African negotiators to ensure that the regional EPA would be flexible enough to accommodate and fully take account of the low development level of the West African economies,